The Monster Multiverse

"All clear on the horizon from here. Not a branch is rustling."

I breathed a small sigh of relief as I heard that statement from the tower watchman, the third one I'd checked since I ran back into my city. The giant stone walls surrounding our perimeter, the gray towers stretching up to the sky, letting the guards see for great distances beyond, the quick communication methods to alert everyone of any dangers...the government officials were always quick to reassure the citizens that their defenses were some of the best in the western lands. But still, after what I had seen, it felt pretty damn necessary to check to make sure they were watching and ready, just in case.

I gave a grateful nod to the soldier looking down from the tower, saying my thanks and moving away to stop distracting him. I remember running into the open part of the gate almost like a madman, nearly toppling the baker and his latest wares in the process, barely able to ask the first tower what they saw in the distance through my gasps for breath. It was only now that my breath was finally starting to get stable, and I chanced a moment to lean against a wall and gather myself. I was starting to finally feel safe. Maybe now would be a good time to adjust my collar, or fix my hair or something. Anything to distract oneself and keep the mind of one's troubles, right?

A drink. Yes, a nice drink of water would be nice. The fountain in the center of town would work, I wouldn't have been the first to cup a quick bit of the clear liquid to wash his face or sate his thirst. The cold splash of the water against my skin helped a little, and looking at my reflection, even with those raven locks disheveled as they were, there wasn't panic in my hazel-colored eyes, and the man looking back at me looked a lot less panicked than he no doubt had coming in here, when I had seen that....thing. Staring into my rippling mirror image, I found my mind flashing back to just several moments ago...

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All I was doing was some scouting and some gathering. The scouting was my official duty amongst the ranks of the Order. The gathering was something I took upon myself. It's a nice little bonus, picking up berries and fruit, when your only given job is going out into the wild so that you can--hopefully--come back in one piece to tell people that there's nothing going on in the outside world. That was how it looked when I was out there, anyway. I remember, I'd been out for a while; it was probably noon, and I had started around mid-morning, and at the time, I was up in a tree. Better view of the area, plus it was full of fruit that was nice and fresh for the picking.

I remember looking over all the treetops in the distance, standing on one of the upper branches of one of the tallest trees within, nary a movement to be seen, taking a bite out of a nice orange I had plucked earlier that had grown just the right size and juiciness inside. Right after I took a bite, I saw a bunch of birds taking flight. Nothing out of the ordinary, I thought. Most likely they had been spooked by another animal, or all decided to move on to another area more plentiful with edibles, I thought. I didn't pay the event any mind, instead content to dangle my feet from the thick branch I perched on as I savored the literal fruit of my labor.

Then one of the trees moved.

I froze up midway into biting another piece of orange, standing back up on the branch and using the tree's base as support, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then another tree moved. Not just a simple shifting of the wind, but the entire tree seemed to slant to the side, like it was being uprooted slightly. That certainly got my attention, and the trees weren't staying still. When one stopped leaning to one side, another further down would lean the other day. It only took me a few seconds to piece together the logical cause: something was pushing the trees aside as it roamed through the woods.

I could feel my hands starting to get a little clammy against the flesh of the orange. I'd never had to deal with anything strong and possibly violent while out on my patrols before. The occasional wasp's nest to avoid or an angry bird upset at getting too close to its nest was about the worst problems I'd ever had to weather, and now there was something strong enough to uproot trees like they were potted plants moving about. I gulped, such a stereotypically nervous action, and dropped the orange, descending from the tree as quickly and as quietly as I could.

I made it about halfway down when I finally got a look at what was crashing through, as a pair of trees leaned in opposite directions, like a gate opening up to reveal something majestic, something important. I must have looked like an idiot, hanging from a branch with my arms above my head, but what I was seeing took away some of my sense of style. Pushing the trees aside with massive, scaled claws, it was some kind of serpentine creature. The scales were dark, onyx in color, and there were no legs to speak of, only one long, thick trailing body that went off into the forest beyond my site. The sound of claws scraping against bark sounded as the claws receded from the trees it had pushed.

No, I couldn't call what I saw an "it." Not when it was so obviously feminine. From partway up that snake-like body, covered in those rough scales, placed almost haphazard across her form, reptilian skin gave way to actual human flesh, seamlessly changing from animal to human. The flesh looked...remarkably soft and lively, I had to admit; even from my distance, there was a flush of energy and pink tint to parts of her. This was even before I had really had time to focus on the rest of her form, which was...shapely, most definitely. The flatness of her stomach and smoothness of her skin gave way to the buxom and full size of her bosom, which bounced slightly with her movements, almost hypnotically slow. I found myself wishing, somewhere in the back of my mind, where hormones ran supreme, that the conveniently placed scales (or were they claws? The biology of this creature was something I couldn't really place perfectly) covering up parts of the side and the nubs she no doubt had in the center. Tearing my eyes away from her chest, I went further upward, where wild, lengthy green hair fell all about her neck from her head, her hair a shade of lush, dark green that stood out amidst the brighter shades the leaves of the forest were known for. Then I managed to spot her eyes, a stark yellow that stood out even more against the darker shades of the rest of her body's surrounding areas. Those eyes...those eyes....

Those eyes were staring right at me. I hadn't even realized that while I had been sizing her up, dangling from the tree to the point that my arms were beginning to tire, that the creature had spotted me in her aimless wandering. So there we were, two strangers that happened upon each other, now sharing eye contact. For the longest time, we simply stared, neither of us daring to blink at the other, my gaze locked due to confusion and nerves, her own steely gaze's motivations a mystery to me.

Then her eyes narrowed. She licked her lips, slowly, full of intent.

I'm not really sure what exactly happened right then. Maybe my spine got chills, maybe my heart stopped for a moment, maybe my stomach knotted in six different ways. Whatever you want to describe it as, I suddenly felt myself feeling something very wrong, and it was enough to shock me out of my grip, and I was rather abruptly introduced to the finer details of the soil around the base of the tree. Not one to make extended introductions, I hastily bid a frantic retreat, not even bothering to look back and see how close, fast, or determined the creature might have been in following my pursuit.

Within a few minutes, the familiar gates of my home were before me, welcoming me into their safe embrace....

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Three towers I checked to make sure there weren't any problems spotted rushing after me, so now that the water had cooled my face and calmed my nerves, I was finally beginning to feel safe. Rather foolish, too, given my extended panic. I'm a scout, after all, quick thinking and a good set of nerves were the reasons I was chosen for my job. I managed to make myself let out a genuine chuckle of self-deprecation, shaking my head as I stood up and straightened myself. With my scouting duties taken care of, abruptly ended as they were, the rest of the day was mine. I could do whatever I wished with my time. The rest of the day looked bright and decent again.

My current joyful mood was broken through by the sound of a whistle, followed by shouting from one of the towers, which incited more whistles, and more shouts from more of the tower watchmen. Intrigued, I ran to the base of the tower I visited before, looking up and calling to the watchmen, alongside a few other concerned civilians. Our cries were not answered directly, but instead answered by the jargon that typically falls from their mouth when major events are taking place.

"Movement spotted, southeast from tower 4!"

"Tower 5, confirming! Foliage being disrupted!"

"Tower 3, also confirmed! Target is approaching rapidly! What is it?!"

Flags were waving to signal something was up, whistles were being blown to confirm the same thing. The worried murmurs of the crowds gathering around the towers, and the sight of others hunkering down within their homes as a precautionary reaction, had my mood rapidly returning back to what it was previously. I found myself backing away from the towers, apprehension growing in the pit of my stomach...

"Tower 2, unable to spot unidentified target!"

"Tower 3, also confirming loss of target's whereabouts!"

Even the soldiers seemed to be getting unnerved, as their myriad combinations of shouts, flag-waving, whistle-blowing, and other techniques they'd been taught, things that a scout such as myself wasn't particularly privy to. This wasn't helping my nerves, and my steps hastened a bit, still walking backwards.

I was already turning to run when there was a solid, resounding thump against the very wall of the city below Tower 3, which shook the entire tower, nearly sending the watchman toppling over the edge, his panicked shouts and urges only serving to heighten the situation, as another, louder strike happened against the tower once again, rattling it further, and I heard shouts from civilians and soldiers alike that the stone of the wall was being loosened. I was already running when the third strike happened, and with a thunderous roar, a large chunk of stone debris burst forth, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. Doing the one thing that no person should do when running for their well-being, I looked back, and in a single glance, saw the same creature from the forest standing amongst the rubble, paying absolutely no heed to the panicking people around or the bits of stone that marred her body. Instead, her gaze was searching, searching....and locked on me. Just like before, she licked her lips, and just like before, I felt a sudden drop in temperature from being locked onto like that.

Wordlessly, she pointed a clawed finger at me, before her hips shifted one side to the next, shuffling her forward as her serpentine half moved against the rubble to the cobblestone floor without any difficulty. She was remarkably fast for her size, how had I been able to escape her originally if she was this fast to begin with? I had no time for thinking about the logistics of that creature at the moment, instead opting for the most basic strategy of running as fast as my scouting-built legs would carry me.

Civilians dove out of the way as I ran, evading me with a simple movement before jumping back several feet at the sight of my predator as she slithered through the streets, ignoring the cries of terror and shock, even uttering growls that helped move people quicker as she continued to pursue me. Doing all this with a grin on her face, as she pointed at me again, and I was shocked to hear her actually speak. "Mari spot you earlier, you look good! Mari not gonna let you get away!"

What she was talking about, why I was chosen of all things...I tried to push these questions out of my mind, ducking down a nearby alley that would loop me into heading the opposite way before I ran out of city to run through. The size of the alley wasn't that large either, perhaps if I was lucky, the creature wouldn't be able to follow, or could get stuck. For added protection, I dislodged a stack of empty supply crates, scattering them across the alley to possibly blockade her. By the time I reached the corner of the alley to make a turn, I could see out of the corner of my eye, that I was completely out of luck on all those fronts, as not only was the creature able to pursue me, but with absolutely no change to her speed or maneuverability. Her claws scraped against the stone walls, leaving deep gashes, her serpentine body leaving marks and indentations against those same walls with her thrashing movement, and the crates I scattered burst into so many splinters beneath her single-minded determination, the creature having no marks upon her body. I wasn't even certain she blinked; it would be almost comedic if I wasn't forced to keep running each second.

My lungs were burning as I gasped for breath, my heart pounding against my chest hard enough to make my entire body feel like it was throbbing. No amount of scout abilities and training had prepared me for this, and it was rapidly seeming like I would run out of energy and places to run or hide long before she would. As I maneuvered around the fountain in the center of the square, I heard the sound of stone crumbling shortly afterward, alongside the splashes of water. I didn't need to glance back to know that the massive decorative piece had been shattered to pieces. Ahead of me, the entrance gates to the city stood untouched, still open, almost calling to me. Constrained as the area inside the city walls was, perhaps I could somehow lose the creature amongst the more open and haphazard locales outside. Maybe providence would strike and something else would strike her fancy and drop her interest in me. With renewed determination, I ran towards the gate, putting on a burst of speed....

...I made it just before crossing the threshold to outside when I felt the full force of something large and heavy tackle into my backside, gripping my torso tightly within a rough grip, my body wildly out of control as I rolled about in the same way my captor was, head over tail, like some kind of twisted living wheel, until finally the rolling momentum ceased, leaving me dazed and in no position to resist my current position, locked within the embrace of the monster's massive claws, who was already slithering away back into the forest. The sight of a very battered home city of mine vanished quickly amidst the growing amount of trees, as I was returned to the creature's home habitat, a few feeble token resistances proving futile against the powerful grip I was in. Given the titanic strength of this monster, I was actually fairly surprised my spine was still in a single piece at this point. I could glance up from my position, and see that the creature was yet again possessing that simple grin upon her face, the flick of her tongue against her lips once again full of h er own intent.

The creature dragged me, twisting and turning through the trees, not slowing down until we were in a small area that looked slightly familiar. An orange tree that I spotted while being carried along made it clear that this was the area where I had first spotted the girl, and it was against the tall tree I had been climbing when I spotted her that I suddenly found myself being dropped to the base of, with the hulking figure of the girl looming over me. Instinctively, I scrambled back to the tree, as if it might somehow shield me from her. "W...Why me?" I managed to say, my voice sounding more akin to a squeak.

The creature let out a low chuckle, something that, by all reason, should sound dark and evil to me, but instead, the sound was rather...pleasant to the ears. The same for her voice, now that I had no ability to panic about and run to and fro. "Mari saw you first." she said simply, pointing from herself than to me with a claw. "Mari not see handsome man like you for quite some time. It made Mari's body flare up..." she said, trailing off, my back raising and being forced from the tree. Looking behind, the tip of her long, serpentine body was undulating behind me, slowly beginning to wind its way around me. My legs were already contained by the rough feeling of her dark-tinted scales, my eyes locked on her as she began to move closer and closer to me. A single clawed digit was placed at the corner of her mouth as she licked her lips again. "Mari wants it so bad just by looking at you....Mari wants you now!" she cried out, and the other clawed hand raised up into the air, glinting in what little rays of sunlight pierced through without being obscured by trees, before swinging downward quickly. I winced in anticipation of being sliced up, but instead just felt a tugging sensation, followed by the sound of torn fabric, and then a rush of mild air. Chancing to open my eyes, I saw the lizard-creature picking a few bits of fabric from her claws, looking down to see the front of my apparel completely torn open, exposing all of my shame to the air, more of my legs getting wrapped up in her coils, and this all only seemed to excite her further, as she locked her eyes down there at my loins, and the flick of her tongue against her lips was much slower this time, as if savoring a treat with her eyes. "Haa....Just seeing it makes Mari get all dizzy in the head, and her pussy just won't stop drooling..." she said lewdly, directing my attention to the junction between her human parts and her snake parts, where she drew a claw across a bit of flesh I hadn't had the chance to see. The intimate parts she possessed looked no different than a normal woman's, the only differences being the scale-covered claw rubbing against the outer parts, the snake-woman shivering and growling with apparent lust after each stimulation, and the fact that I could see trails of liquid arousal going down from her opening, getting lost amongst the darker colors of her serpent waist.

Like any man confronted with a woman whose opening had become moist and hot and wanting, I found myself slowly growing to full-size right there, gulping down a bit of nerves as I felt my face, followed by my body, begin to burn with the flow of blood rushing to certain areas. My breath was coming out in deeper gasps, and her coils continued to snake up further, my waist now wrapped up in the strong muscles of her lower half, though naturally, she left my hardened penis completely exposed and untouched. Pulling me closer, I found myself almost flung into her bosom, stopped just before the buxom curves of flesh, looking up at the flushed face of my reptilian captor. Her breath seemed to be coming out much the same as mine, save for the shivering moans of want that came with each exhalation. "Mari can't wait anymore...Mari's putting it in!" she groaned, and, using the power she had over roughly half my body at this point, she pushed me forward, either instinct or sheer luck guiding my organ perfectly into hers, slamming my entire length inside her, my cry of shock from the sudden sensation drowned out by the guttural growl of sated need that emitted from the creature. Her claws reached out and grabbed at me, holding me from behind my back, the claws suddenly seeming much duller as they pressed near my spine. Already the girl's hips were moving, part of my now-soaked flesh exposed to the air before being swallowed up once more by the warmth of her folds, which gripped every part of my member in a death grip, not unlike a more fleshy trapping of coils like my lower torso was in. The undulating movement of her coils around my body, coupled with the movement of her hips, pushed us back against the tree, my hands finding spots on the bark or the dirt below to futilely clench out in reaction to the strong bindings against my body and manhood, and I couldn't keep myself from letting out low groans of my own, each time the woman's hips pushed against me, my voice paling in comparison to the moans and sounds of my abductor, who seemed not to have been lying when she said she wanted this and hadn't partaken of this act in some time.

Blinking a bit to try and focus my gaze, I was met with another sight, another strange bit of physiology to this creature. Her bouncing bosom was once again right in my face, this time free of the claw-like extension of her form that covered her nipples, which were solid and hard, that much could be seen easily. Maybe curiosity spoke to me, maybe it was just lust and the heat of the moment, but I wanted to partake of those globes, and so long as my arms were free, I might as well put them to use, in case they were to be bound in the future throes of passion with this creature. Leaning forward as best I could, I reached out and took the fleshy mounds into my hands, feeling their firm softness sink beneath my grip. The reaction I got was instantaneous, and surprising. The creature shivered, moaned, undulated, her inner walls tightening and her tongue beginning to hand from her open mouth, panting as she looked down at where I had contacted. "Ah! Mari feels....Mari feels your hands! They're so warm, so strong! It makes Mari's body tingle all over! Touch....Touch Mari more!" she insisted, her hip movement growing even stronger and nearly knocking me back and loosening my grip. Catering to both her wants and mine, I did as instructed, squeezing and manipulating the flesh beneath my grip, savoring the softness and the indentations I made with each firm grasp of my hands. My fingers flicked against the hardened nubs in the center, each time sending the creature into a particularly strong twitch of her body, which was always followed by an extreme tightening of her coils and her insides, nearly knocking the breath out of me or squeezing the life out of my engorged manhood. The girl's hips continued to slam against mine, plunging my cock in and out of her at a steady, continuously fast rate, the wetness of her hole soaking my hips and her coils and making the movement that much smoother and easier, her inner walls moving about and squeezing and caressing the sides and tip of me every time I was thrust into her deepest.

Taking more of what little initiative I could gather, I decided to sample the taste of her flesh, leaning forward and first kissing the flesh just around the center of her breasts, eliciting an almost giddy sigh and gasp of pleasure from the creature, before closing my mouth around one of the nipples, suckling lightly and flicking my tongue against it. The act caused the girl to thrash, scraping her coils against the tree we were forced against, as her formally steady movements of her hips became chaotic, thrusting, grinding, undulating all over as she cried out. "Mari's nipples! You're making lightning inside Mari's body from her nipples!" she cried out, sounding as if she was going through some kind of pleasurable torture as I looked up, watching her wide eyes gaze to the heavens, mouth refusing to close and muffle her cries of lust and ecstasy. All these reactions I saw reinforced a theory that, for all the toughness of her scales and muscles, the creature was remarkably sensitive on her bare flesh. Considering I knew my limit would soon be reached, I figured the most appropriate thing to do would to see how far I could push her as well, and after a few more moments of suckling her breast like a newborn babe, I took my teeth, and bit down lightly to stimulate one nipple, while clutching the other firmly between two of my fingers.

The reaction I got was incredible. An utter howl of pleasure and lust erupted from the creature, her back arching for a moment during the cry, before slamming forward, bent over my head slightly, her clawed hands leaving my back to instead slam into the tree behind me. I kept up the stimulation as best I could, but the strong grip of her inner walls was tightening like a vice, throbbing and twitching it what was no doubt the feminine orgasm, attempting to milk my own climax from me. Loud pants and gasps, lusty pants and growls somewhere between human and animal, gave way to the splintering of bark and the sound of dirt shifting. She was scratching and cracking away bark and uprooting the tree solely from the force of the orgasm! Truly, her power was staggering, and somewhat intriguing, though the sensitivity and reactions I could bring from her were even more so. My makeshift experiment was over, and not a second too late, as my resistance was at an end, as well. With the serpentine beauty laying atop my head, my member plunged deep inside her, I erupted, filling the girl's insides with my seed, with only a low groan of the release to warn her. Her trembling and moans resurfaced again, gaze turning upward and tongue hanging out as her claws scraped deep gashes against the bark of the tree, as she apparently derived some pleasure from simply being filled up like this. Once several spurts of white liquid had been extracted from me, and it was certain I had no more to give at the moment, only then did she relinquish her grip on the tree, her coils loosening only slightly as she pulled herself back, looking down at me with a passionate gaze. I couldn't quite tell what was behind that gaze, though. It could have been lust, adoration, amazement....anything. She simply smiled and leaned down, nuzzling into my neck, humming a pleasured coo as our flesh rubbed against each other, our bodies still connected. "Man make Mari feel so amazing all over. Mari wants mans name." she said, looking at me from her position on my shoulder.

"It's....Leopold." I responded simply. The name was uncommon, rather fanciful, too. No doubt when my parents had named me, they expected a greater lifestyle and a greater fate for me than where I currently stood.

"Leopold..." the girl repeated, seeming to commit the name to memory and see how it sounded coming from her lips. Lips that curled into a smile after another repeat of my name. "Mari likes the name. Mari like Leopold." she said simply, drawing a clawed finger across my chest, almost playfully.

"Uh....well, I'm glad." I said, unsure exactly how to respond otherwise.

"Mmm....Mari wants another. Then another. Mari wants more Leopold. Lots of Leopold." she responded back, her smile going from soft and almost innocent, back to the lusty smile she had had when she first cornered me.

It seemed I wasn't going to be getting out of the creature's coils for some time.